America’s ‘Best Wine Festival’ returns to Sonoma’s historic downtown for the seventh year on April 26th with 100+ wine discoveries from the region’s most exciting small production winemakers
February 26th, 2025 (Sonoma, CA) — America’s Best Wine Festival[1], The Garagiste Festival: Northern Exposure, returns to Sonoma on April 26th for the seventh time to showcase 40 micro-production wineries and 100+ diverse wines from 20+ grape varieties.
The festival, which offers first-look access to some of the best, hard-to-find wines from Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino, Marin County, Lodi, Sierra Foothills, and Livermore, takes place at Sonoma Veterans Memorial Hall, walking distance from Sonoma’s historic downtown plaza. Tickets are on sale here.
Sonoma Magazine said of The Garagiste Festival: It is ‘beloved by wine geeks from near and far…offering tiny gems that are difficult to come by….’ It is the only wine festival that exclusively features high-quality wines from small-lot, commercial ‘garagiste’* winemakers where the wines are poured by the winemakers/owners themselves, so attendees can interact with the creative forces behind the wines and be among the first to discover some of the best of the area’s hand-crafted wines from wineries who produce under 1500 cases per year.
“We love coming to Sonoma and shattering preconceptions about Northern California wine country with the festival’s remarkable array of wines and the down-to-earth approach of its small-production winemakers,” said Garagiste Festival Co-founder Doug Minnick. “Attendees will enjoy grape varieties and blends they’ve never tasted before, as well as unique interpretations of the region’s familiars, such as Chardonnay, Cabernet, and Pinot — all while discovering the story behind each wine, told by the winemakers themselves.”
Among the Garagiste Festival: Northern Exposure winemakers pouring for the first time are:
- Identity Wines helmed by Pablo Antonio Suarez, the proud grandson of a Cuban refugee who sources from vineyards in Napa, Mendocino, Yolo County, Amador and more.
- Ottavino Wines whose winemaker, Shalini Sekhar, a former musician and 2015 Winemaker of the Year at the San Francisco International Wine Competition, demonstrates her passion for unusual varieties in her interpretations of Gruner Veltliner and St. Laurent.
- Fine Disregard Wine Co. which seeks out compelling vineyards (often old vines planted in interesting soils), practices minimal intervention, and crafts wines from Grenache, Chenin Blanc and Carignan.
- Morét-Brealynn Wines whose namesake proprietor and winemaker is one of “Sonoma County’s Top Winemakers to Watch in 2024” and is renowned for her Pinot Noirs (and Rosé of Pinot Noir).
Others pouring for the first time at Northern Exposure are: Blaine Wines, Fraser Family Vineyards, Fun Mom Wines, Grand Scheme Wines, Grey Stack Cellars, KNA Wines, Mersenne Wines, North American Press, and Shick Family Wines.
The line-up for the 7th Annual Garagiste Festival: Northern Exposure includes:
- Rare and Reserve Early Access (1pm-2pm): exclusive access to library, club only or reserve wines, only being poured during the first hour of the Festival.
- Grand Tasting (2pm-5pm) featuring over 40 excellent, hard-to-find micro-wineries pouring 100+ wines and 20+ varietals. Includes complimentary cheese and charcuterie, along with samples from local artisan vendors and a souvenir crystal wine glass.
- Silent Wine Auction with proceeds supporting the Garagiste Festival Scholarship at Cal Poly SLO, to help fund the future of California winemaking.
“The Garagiste Festival is an environment where laughter, learning, and love for the grape converge. You’re not just attending an event; you are part of a celebration, a vibrant community where each sip is a cheer to the art of the small producer,” concluded Minnick.
The Garagiste Festival, which premiered in Paso Robles in 2011, held its first festival in Sonoma in 2018 to focus on the wines of Sonoma and surrounding Northern California AVAs. The Northern Exposure festival will be followed by The Garagiste Festival: Urban Exposure in Los Angeles (June 21) and the ‘OG’ Festival in Paso Robles (November 8-9).
Among the 40+ winemakers scheduled to pour in Sonoma are:
Above The Bay Wine, *Blaine Wines, Calstar Cellars, Cazadero Winery, Comorant Cellars, Crux Winery, Elanie Wines, Elkin Wines, Fest Wine Co., *Fine Disregard Wine Co., Forgotten Union Wines,*Fraiser Family Vineyards, *Fun Mom Wines, G & C Lurton Vineyards, *Grand Scheme Wines, *Grey Stack Cellars, Greyscale Wines, *Identity Wines, Kendric Vineyards, *KNA Wines, Lussier Wine Co., Mastro Scheidt Family Cellars, McCarter Cellars, *Mersenne Wines, Mon Premier Wines, Montagne Russe, *Moret-Braelynn Wines, *North American Press, *Ottavino Wines, Oxlee Graham Wines, Panther Ridge Vineyards, Parea Wines, Perlegos Wines, Perri Jaye Vineyards, Pine Mountain Vineyards, Rock & Clay Wines, *Shick Family Wines, Sosie Wines, Spur Road Wines, Staysail Wines, Theopolis Vineyards, and Tiny Vineyards Wine Co.
*New to the festival
For more information and full Garagiste Festival: Northern Exposure schedule details, go to: http://www.garagistefestival.com/
Tickets are limited for Garagiste Festival Northern Exposure. Garagiste Festivals always sell out in advance. To buy tickets, go to: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/7th-annual-garagiste-wine-festival-northern-exposure-tickets-1096516523439?aff=oddtdtcreator
Garagiste Tasting Pass
Wine lovers can also celebrate Garagiste all year long with the Garagiste Tasting Pass, offering a one-of-a-kind road map to California’s under-the-radar wineries with 2-for-1 tasting at 75 artisan wineries across California. Available now, the pass is less than the average cost of two winery tastings – and includes discounts to the festival’s four annual events.
For breaking Garagiste Festival news and special discounts, sign-up for our free newsletter, The Dirt, at https://www.garagistefestival.com/garagiste-blog or follow us on Twitter (@GaragisteFest) or Facebook.
Sponsors include:
G3 Enterprises, ETS Laboratories, Laffort USA, AgWest Farm Credit, MWWine School, Fortis Solutions Group, Glenn Burdette, KSYV, Kelly Visel Photography, and Weeklys.
For sponsorship info, email info@garagistefestival.com.
About The Garagiste Wine Festival
The Garagiste Wine Festival (http://www.garagistefestival.com), named “Best of the Fests” for 2019 by Fest Forums and the ‘Best Wine Festival in the US in 2018 in USA Today’s 10Best Readers Choice Awards, is the first and only wine festival dedicated to the undiscovered and under-recognized American artisan ‘garagiste’ micro-wineries who are making some of the best, most exciting, handcrafted small-lot production wines in the world. Founded by fellow garagistes Stewart McLennan and Douglas Minnick, the Garagiste Festivals are committed to discovering the best and most innovative limited-production winemakers and promoting and showcasing them to a broad audience of discerning wine consumers. In addition to its flagship annual festival in Paso Robles, CA, the Garagiste Festival line-up includes Garagiste Festival: Southern Exposure, featuring Santa Ynez Valley garagistes; The Garagiste Festival: Urban Exposure, in Los Angeles; and The Garagiste Festival: Northern Exposure, in Sonoma
In addition to being named the US’ Best Wine Festival, the Garagiste Festival was named one of the ‘Top Nine Incredible Epicurean Vacations’ in the world by ABC News, “one of the premier wine events of the year,” by the LA Times and “Best Festival” by Sunset Magazine’s ‘Best of the West.’ The festivals are produced by Garagiste Events, a non-profit dedicated to furthering the education of future winemakers and those training for employment within the wine industry. Proceeds from the festivals support the Garagiste Festival Scholarship fund of the California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo Wine and Viticulture Department.
*Garagiste (garage-east) is a term originally used in the Bordeaux region of France to denigrate renegade small-lot wine makers, sometimes working in their “garages” (anything considered not a chateau), who refused to follow the “rules,” and is now a full-fledged movement responsible for making some of the best wine in the world. The Garagiste Festivals were the first to shine a light on the American garagiste winemaker in 2011.
[1] The Garagiste Wine Festival was named “Best of the Fests” by Fest Forums and the ‘Best Wine Festival in the US in 2018 in USA Today’s 10Best Readers Choice Awards.
